Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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214. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the reasons for his decision made on 27 February 2013 (details supplied) to consider twenty-two Irish resident children with siblings that are Irish citizens as not having an Irish association for the purposes of naturalisation. [23243/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Section 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, specifies certain conditions which an applicant must fulfil in order to be eligible to apply for naturalisation. Section 16 of the Act provides that I can, in cases where the applicant is a parent or guardian acting on behalf of a minor of Irish descent or Irish association waive part or all of the statutory criteria when considering applications for naturalisation. In general, I only consider it appropriate to waive the statutory conditions for naturalisation where there are exceptional and compelling reasons why these conditions cannot be complied with and where there is no other option available to the applicant under the law. The usual manner by which children such as those referred to by the Deputy are granted citizenship is for a parent to become an Irish citizen in the first instance. Thereafter, it is open to the parent, if successful in their own application, to make an application on behalf of their children under the relevant provision. Such applications are dealt with as expeditiously as possible.